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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

To California and Back with Vera

Vacations are wonderful. Seeing family is wonderful. Seeing new places is delightful. So here is a bit of the saga of To California and Back with Vera.

On Friday, September 16 I boarded a Delta to Atlanta around 6:30 a.m. It was loaded with humanity. Those who look you in the eye and smile. Those who are indifferent to your existence and look right through you. Those who look searchingly in the rows of seats from side to side as though they don't know if there will be a place for them to perch during the flight while they clutch a "pass" that says they actually do have a seat. There are folk who somehow have slipped two large pieces of luggage on board as carry on luggage and they actually seem intent on resizing the overhead bins.

Finally, all are seated, the lights dim and the captain's voice welcomes you and almost says, "Come on folks, let's get this show on the road (oops! in the air)."

About nine hours later I land in San Francisco after a brief layover in Atlanta. Family meets me and we exchange long overdue hugs and head down the road to the salad bowl of America, Watsonville, CA and environs. The next day we attend a county fair in the Watsonville area and have "fair food," see the ponies, cows, and chickens, ride the rides, and waft our way through the masses of humanity.

Then I visit family in Monterey, CA, home of many branches of the military, a magnificent aquarium, Cannery Row (of Steinbeck fame), and breathtaking vistas.

Being sure to get a bit of history into this trip, we went by the Carmel Mission where the first padres brought Catholism to the Indians.

We also visited the now closed Fort Ord which played a major role in training our military along the West coast of this country during previous wars. It was established in 1917. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ord Deserted army barracks and firing ranges along the beach where live ammunition was utilized to give realism to soldiers who would soon be actually fighting for their lives and for the security of our Freedom.

After several lovely days with family (did I mention my four lovely granddaughters?) in Monterey, I went to San Francisco to be with more family (and another lovely granddaughter - this one has curly red hair). We only had about two days together, but we enjoyed our time immensely. We visited the Exploratorium of San Francisco and saw wonderful vistas of fish, swamps, a planetarium presentation, and so many opportunities to explore that simply boggle the mind.

Delightful food and wonderful company. Tightening the ties of love that bind us together as family. Exploring and delighting in each other as three generations experience the day to day emotions and activities of living. Ten days later I get aboard another Delta, lay over in Detroit, and return to North Carolina about 10 hours later. A tired, but satisfied individual who has experienced a vacation, beautiful sights and adventurous places, and strengthened the tie of family within three generations.

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"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24

__________________________"Courage is fear that has said it's prayers."(pg. 129 A Wedding for Julia by Vannetta Chapman)

You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have ~Corrie Ten Boom

"God has a very unique way of scooping up the shattered fragments of our hopes and dreams and molding them into a plan of His own - a plan vastly different from ours, but far more wonderful."--Anita Dittman, Holocaust survivor

Man has a madness to misuse that which his mind has manufactured.--Vera G.

A mountain top view is always the more appreciated after you climb out of a dark valley.--Vera G.

To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.— Leonard Bernstein

Some of the people who have impacted me have been as ships that pass in the night. A brief encounter that none-the-less leaves a wake that lifts and floats you and somehow impacts you. Friends are not always forever. They are sometimes like ships in the night – passing briefly and casting a radiance on our being.--Vera

As each new chapter unfolds, we look at past days with wishful sighs longing for the sweetness of them. But each new dawn brings exciting adventures for the growing child to embrace as an adult and for the parent to embrace as one who has launched a wonderful ship on the sea of life.

When play is the work of children and imagination the fuel of discovery, the longings of a child's heart become fantastically real to them enabling them to engage in a world of wonder.

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